Bjoern Kernspeckt, Stese Wagner, Sebastian Kraus, Daniela Schmidt
Ogilvy Germany
Creative Director
Matthias Bauer, Philipp Bertisch, Andreas Richter, Stephan Westerwelle, Joschka
Ogilvy Germany
Art Director
Janne Sachse, Anke Roell
Ogilvy Germany
Copywriter
Rochus Landgraf
Ogilvy Germany
Social Media Strategie
Robert Georgi
Ogilvy Germany
Programmer
Carsten Kaiser, Stephen Kimpel, Patricia Podewin, Iskra Velichkova, Samet Akti
Ogilvy Germany
Account Management
Martina Diederichs
Ogilvy Germany
Art Buyer
Lutz Meier
Freelancer
Copy Editor
Dominik Thomas Butzmann
Laif/Agentur für Photos & Reportagen
Photographer
Simon Geis
vividgrey.de
Post Production Press
Georg Ilse
Ogilvy Germany
Agency Producer
Florian Baeker
Tony Petersen Film GmbH
Director, Film Producer
Kathie Fischer
Tony Petersen Film GmbH
Editor
Kris Steininger
Pas de Deux
Music & Sound
Christian Strasser
Europa Verlag, Berlin/Munich/Vienna
Publisher
Anna-Karina Berels, Anna-Lena Daniels, Laura Kolb, Julia Steckel
Ogilvy Germany
Public Relations (Agency)
Claus-Martin Carlsberg
Carlsberg & Richter GmbH & Co. KG
Public Relations (External)
Barbara Stang
Stang PR
Public Relations (External)
Uwe-Karsten Heye, Sophia Oppermann, Rebecca Weis
Gesicht Zeigen! An association encouraging people to stand against racism in Germany
Advertiser's Supervisor
Dr. Stephan Vogel
Ogilvy Germany
Chief Creative Officer
Christian Scholz
Mindshare GmbH
Media Manager
Dietmar Birkner
KINETIC WORLDWIDE GERMANY GMBH
Media Manager
Uschy Koebe, Knud Schlaudraff
H&O Frankfurt
Print Producer
The Campaign
We stand against the re-publication of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" in Germany with an open-minded book: "Mein Kampf – against racism"! Exactly at the same time of publication, taking the same title and layout as the original, our counterbook features 11 ¬people and their courageous struggle against racism. Touching stories of people like Mosche Dagan who survived a concentration camp, the granny Irmela Mensah-Schramm who removes Nazi graffiti or MTV host Wana Limar who had to face hate as a refugee child. With 168 pages in 11,000 books available in every bookstore in Germany and via Amazon we are fighting back. Using the tumult around the re-publication of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and turn it into a discussion about the current situation in Germany. Making clear that today more and more people had to struggle against racism again.
Creative Execution
Our campaign made the book “Mein Kampf – against racism“ the relevant topic across society.
- We competed successfully with the reprint of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" at the determining location: in bookstores.
- An impactful bookmailing to journalists, blogger and influencers brought the counterbook into the public news: in feuilleton radiostations, in title stories, in Germany’s most-read weekly newspaper and into the discussion of big talkshows on TV.
- German celebrities became our contributers and pushed the project even further: Germany’s No.1 late-night talker, MTV hosts, digital leaders, punk rock musicians and actors.
- We presented the book at the German book fair, where it became “one of the most discussed books“ (quote from TV report)
- We organized lectures with our courageous strugglers in bookstores
- A provocative poster campaign instinctively woke up the sleeping struggler in all of us
- We started a dialogue on Social Media
With that kind of book we pleasently hit the nerve of time in a Europe moving towards right-wing populism.
Only one month after the release, the counterbook with its campaign is a huge success:
- top15 bestseller on Amazon
- the first edition of 11,000 books is nearly sold out
- well attended lectures in bookstores
- a huge social buzz and a media resonance – from frontpage stories in popular newspapers to Thursday night talkshows on TV – led to 645 mio contacts and a gross media equivalency value of 14.8 mio Euro
- we reduced the sentiment ratio of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" by 12 points in social web – that means: people were mobilised to comment against the Nazi manifesto.
"My Struggle – against racism" became "Our Struggle – against racism".
Hitler's "Mein Kampf", the Nazi propaganda book, can be published once again in Germany after its 70-year copyright expired. The re-publication has unleashed fierce debate in a country struggling against new hate preachers and violent right-wing extremism increasing every day. To fight back we created an open-minded book: "Mein Kampf – against racism"! Taking the same title and layout as the original, the book features 11 people and their struggle against racism. A book as a spectacular trigger for the PR and social media campaign in order to ignite discussion about the society in Germany currently drifting to the right.
The book and the campaign should
1. reclaim the conception of the two words “Mein Kampf” from the Nazis
2. create a spectacular trigger for PR and social media to talk about the current situation of the society in Germany
3. inspire and encourage everyone in Germany to stand up against right-wing extremism in daily life.
To activate people buy the book, we made them to activists, too: Every buyer joins the struggle against racism, because 1 Euro from every book sold is donated to "Gesicht Zeigen! For a cosmopolitan, liberal-minded Germany“, a non-profit association encouraging people to stand up against racism.